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Chapter 1: What is Islam
1
What is Islam
Published by WFIM
Being an Introductory Sketch of Islamic Teachings
(A) Religion of Unity.
(B) Religion of “Submission to the Divine Will”
(C) Religion of Nature.
(D) Religion of Discipline.
(E) Religion of Truth.
(F) Religion of Temperance.
(G) Religion of Beauty.
(H) Religion of Reason.
(f) Religion of the Negation of Superstition.
(J) Religion of Action.
(K) Religion of Balanced Progress.
(L) Religion of Scientific Quest.
(M) Religion of the Sanctity of Labour.
(N) Religion of the Highest Idealism in Ethics.
(O) Religion of Peace and Goodwill.
(P) Religion of Struggle.
(Q) Religion of no Compulsion in Conversion.
(R) Religion of Brotherhood.
(5) Religion of Spiritual Democracy.
(T) Religion of Human Dignity.
(U) Religion of Rational Sex Morality.
(V) Religion of Salvation in this Life and the Hereafter.
(W) Religion with Authentic and Perfect Divine Scripture.
(X) Religion with the Simplest Creed.
(Y) Muhammad: the Pinnacle of Human Perfection. ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص
(Z) Absorption in the love of God, the Final Goal.
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(A) RELIGION OF HUMANITY
(1) Unity of God
Islam teaches the purest form of Monotheism and regards
polytheism as the deadliest sin. A Muslim addresses GOD by His
Personal Name: ALLAAH — the word “god” and its equivalents in
other languages being unstable in the matter of connotation. Allaah,
according to Islam, is the One God, Who is Indivisible in Person
and Who has no partner: wife, son or daughter. He is the Matchless
and “naught is as His likeness”. “He begetteth not, nor was He
begotten”. He is the First, the Last, the Eternal, the Infinite, the
Almighty, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent. He is the Creator, the
Nourisher, the Cherisher of all things. He is the All-Just, the
Avenger of the wrongs done to the weak and the oppressed, the
Compassionate, the Merciful, the Loving, the Guide, the Friend, the
Magnificent, the Glorious, the Beautiful and the True. In short, He
is the Possessor of all Excellence.
Speaking of the conception of God in Islam, Gibbon; the famous
western historian, says:
“The Creed of Muhammad is free from the suspicion of ambiguity
and the Qur’an is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The
Prophet of Makkah rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars
and planets, on the rational principle that whatever is corruptible
must decay and perish, that whatever is born must die, that whatever
rises must set. In the Author of the universe his rational enthusiasm
confessed and adored an Infinite and Eternal Being, without form or
place, without issue or similitude, present to our secret thoughts,
existing by the necessity of His own nature, and deriving from
Himself all moral and intellectual perfections. These sublime truths
are defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the
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Qur’aan. A philosophic theist might subscribe to the popular creed
of the Muhammadans.”
(2) Unity of the Universe
From the Unity of the Creator, according to Islam, proceeds the
Unity of the Universe, i.e., Unity of Creation and Unity of Purpose.
In other words, the Cosmos is a Moral Order.
(3) Unity of Mankind
Islam regards the whole of mankind as an “organic unity”- a single
family, and emphatically says that the distinctions on the mundane
plane, the distinctions, namely, of race, colour, language or territory,
cannot form the ground for claims of superiority of one group over
the other. The only distinction that has “value” is that which arises
at the moral and spiritual planes - namely, the distinction of
“taqwa”, or, “piety and righteousness”.
Prof. H.A.R. Gibb, the famous English critic of Islam says:
“ . . Islam.... possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial
understanding and co-operation. No other society has such a record
of success in uniting in an equality of status, of opportunity and of
endeavour so many and so various races of mankind…..If ever the
opposition of the great societies of the East and the West is to be
replace by co-operation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable
condition.”1
(4) Unity of Religion
According to Islam, the human intellect, though a great and
powerful asset, has its natural limits, and, therefore, neither the
normative nor the empirical sciences are capable of leading
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humanity to a sure knowledge of ultimate truths and the code of life
based upon them. The only source of sure knowledge open to
humanity is, consequently, Divine Guidance, and that course has
been actually open ever since the beginnings of human life on earth.
Allaah raised His “Prophets” and “Messengers” and revealed His
Guidance to them for transmission to humanity. Coming from the
same Source, all revealed religions have, therefore, been one, i.e.,
ISLAM.
Allaah’s Prophets and Messengers continued to come to every
country and community to work in their respective limited fields.
Time after time, the revealed Guidance was either lost or corrupted
through human interpolation, and new Prophets with fresh
Dispensations were sent, and humanity continued to advance from
infancy to maturity. At last, when the stage of maturity was reached
– when humanity was practically to become one family – instead of
sectional Guidance, a perfect, final and abiding Revelation,
addressed to entire mankind and for all time, was granted in the
seventh century of the Christian era. That revelation, which
recapitulates all former Revelations and thus sets a seal on the Unity
of Religion, is ISLAM; the scripture which enshrines it is the
HOLY QUR’AAN; and the Prophet who brought it is the Leader of
Humanity, MUHAMMAD (Allaah bless him).
Thus all the Prophets of God, from Adam down to Noah, Abraham,
Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all), are the Prophets of a
Muslim, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him!) being
the Last and Final one, and all the Divine Scriptures are the
Scriptures of a Muslim, though he follows only the Holy Qur’aan
because it alone exists in its original purity and it alone contains the
religion of Islam which has been followed by all rightly-guided
people since the day the first human being came into existence.
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(5) Unity of Sexes
Differentiation of functions have misled certain cultures of the
world to regard woman as a being who belongs, so to say, to a
different and inferior species and to meet out to her inhuman
treatment. Accordingly. Islam emphatically repudiates that notion
and teaches that both man and woman have sprung from the same
essence and the same source and consequently possess the same
human status. Their functions and interest, instead of being
antagonistic, are meant to be complementary. The natural relation
between the sexes, in all its aspects, is therefore, that of love and
harmony, without which no true human progress can be possible.
(6) Unity of Classes
Islam aims at the creation of a classless society by eliminating all
possible social conflicts (through resolving the different interests).
In the sphere of economics, Islam lays down the principle that
wealth should not be allowed to circulate among the wealthy only,
and envisages, through its laws and institutions, a “Cooperative
Commonwealth of Talents”.
In the political sphere, Islam stands for the “Cooperative
Commonwealth of the Pursuers of Righteousness”.
Taken as a whole, the Islamic state is a “welfare state” where
sovereignty belongs to Allaah alone and no human being has a right
to govern other human beings except in the name of Allaah and
according to His Will, and where nobody, not even the Head of the
State, is above the law. Absolute Justice is the watchword and the
Establishment of Righteousness is the goal.
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The merits of Islam’s social ethics have elicited praise even from
the otherwise hostile critics. For instance:
H. G. Wells says:
“Islam created a society more free from widespread cruelty and
social oppression than any society that had ever been in the world
before,”2
H. A. R. Gibb says:
“Within the Western world Islam still maintains the balance
between exaggerated opposities. Opposed equally to the anarchy of
European nationalism and the regimentation of Russian
communism, it has not yet succumbed to that obsession with the
economic side of life which is characteristic of present-day Europe
and present-day Russia alike.” 3
Prof. Louis Massignon says:
“Islam has the merit of standing for a very equalitarian
conception…..it occupies an intermediate position between the
doctrines of bourgeois capitalism and Bolshevist communism.”4
(7) Unity of Human Activity
Islam conceives of the human personality as a “unity” and
consequently regards the distinction of “secular” and “religious” as
unscientific, irrational and absurd. The life of a Muslim, both in its
individual and social manifestations, is a life lived for God and God
alone.
“Islam,” says Dudley Wright, scholar of Comparative Religion, “is
no mere creed; it is a life to be lived. In the Qur’aan may be found
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directions for what are sometimes termed the minor details of daily
life, but which are not minor when it is considered that life has to be
lived for God. The Muslim lives for God alone. The aim of the
Muslim is to become God-bound, and to endeavour to advance the
knowledge of God in all his undertakings. From the cradle to the
grave the true Muslim lives for God and God alone.”
(B) RELIGION OF “SUBMISSION TO THE
DIVINE WILL"
The word “Islam” means “submission” and, as a religious term, it
connotes “submission to the Divine Will and Commands”. As such,
ISLAM is co-extensive with NATURE. For, everything in Nature
submits to the Divine Will without demur. The only exception is
man. He has to choose “Islam” through his free will and thus to
attain his destiny by falling in line with the rest of God’s Creation.
Goethe, the renowned poet-philosopher of Germany, says:
“Naerrisch, dass jeder in Seinem Falle
Seine besondere Meinung priest!
Wenn Islam Gott ergeben heisst,
Im Islam leben und sterben wir alle.”
Viz:
“It is lack of understanding that everyone praises his own special
opinion; (for) Islam means submission to God and in Islam we all
live and die.”
(C) RELIGION OF NATURE
The above statement brings out, and the Holy Qur’aan emphasises
in clear terms, that to be a Muslim is to live and grow in accordance
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with true human nature and in harmony with the Nature around.
Islam, thus, means conformity to the natural law.
(D) RELIGION OF DISCIPLINE
The concepts of submission to the Divine Will and Conformity to
the Natural law, when actively realized in human life, give rise to
the healthiest form of DISCIPLINE and Islam is the religion of
Discipline par excellence.
In his famous book: First and Last Things, H.G. Wells says:
“The aggression, discipline and submission of Muhammadanism
makes, I think …….. fine and honourable religion for men. Its spirit,
if not its formulae, is abundantly present in our modern world…. I
have no doubt that in devotion to a virile ….Deity and to the service
of His Empire of stern Law and Order, efficiently upheld, men have
found and will find salvation.”
The German Orientalist, Friedrich Delitzsch, admits that the Muslim
shows “owing to his religious surrender to the will of God an
exemplary patience under misfortune and he bears up under
disastrous accidents with an admirable strength of mind.”5
(E) RELIGION OF TRUTH
The concept of “Truth” forms the keynote of Islamic ideology and
pervades the entire universal order presented by Islam. Not only is
“truthfulness: a fundamental value in the elaborate Islamic Moral
Code – a value which forms the foundation-stone of Muslim
character, but God Himself has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’aan
as “The Truth”, or “the True”, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (God
bless him!) as the “Bearer of Truth”, the Qur’aan itself as “the
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Truth”, and the abode of the righteous after death as the “Seat of
Truth”
(F) RELIGION OF TEMPERANCE
Islam is the religion of Purity and Temperance par excellence. It
stresses purity not only of the mind and the heart, which certain
other religions also stress, but also of the body, its fundamental
principle being the harmonious development of human personality.
Consequently, it strictly prohibits the use of all drinks and foods
which might be unhealthy and injurious to the body, or the mind or
both. Thus its prohibitive injunctions cover not only all the
intoxicants, e.g., wine, opium, etc., but also those foods which are
harmful to healthy human growth. Ultimately, Islamic Temperance
covers all evil thoughts, feelings and deeds.
(G) RELIGION OF BEAUTY
Unlike certain religions, Islam is not the religion of contempt for the
world, of the negation of any fundamental value. It is positively and
definitely a religion of fulfilment - fulfilment of all the faculties and
positive capabilities with which God has endowed man. Aesthetic
culture, therefore, forms part of Islamic life—of course, governed
and controlled by Islam’s moral and spiritual principles. In Islam the
concept of “Beauty” permeates the entire human activity—nay, the
whole cosmic order. “Allaah,” -says the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(peace be with him!), “is beautiful and loves what is beautiful."
ال جم
ال
حب يميل ه ج
الل
(0033مسند الامام احمد بن حنبل ،رقم الحدیث)إن
Beauty in thought, word and deed, and beauty in all creative activity
is the Islamic ideal.
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Islam permits the creation of Art, within the limitations of its
spiritual and moral framework. But its motto is not “Art for the sake
of Art” but “Art for the sake of life”, whereby alone a true blending
of spiritual, moral, and physical beauty –the rational and
harmonious goal of human life – is achievable.
(H) RELIGION OF REASON
Islam regards Reason as man’s distinctive privilege and God’s noble
gift, and the Holy Qur’aan has repeatedly exhorted mankind to
employ Reason in matters of social and natural phenomena and in
understanding its Message and practicing its Guidance, thus giving
to “personal judgment” its due place in the life of a Muslim.
“Intellectual Culture” in general, forms one of the noblest pursuits
of human life in Islam and the acquisition and cultivation of
knowledge has been made obligatory upon every Muslim man and
woman.
(I) RELIGION OF THE NEGATION OF
SUPERSTITION
Islam is a positively rational religion and stands opposed to the
mystery cults and religions of mysterious dogmas whose acceptance
is generally claimed on the basis of blind faith.
Speaking of the negation of superstition and the affirmation of
Reason in Islam, Godfrey Higgins says: “No relic, no image, no
picture, no mother of God disgrace his (Muhammad’s) religion. No
such doctrines as the efficacy of faith without works, or that of a
death-bed repentance, plenary indulgences, absolution or auricular
confession, operate first to corrupt, then to deliver up his followers
into the power of a priesthood, which would of course be always
more corrupt and more degraded than themselves. No indeed! The
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adoration of one God, without mother, or mystery, or pretended
miracle, and the acknowledgement that he, a man, was sent to
preach the duty of offering adoration to the Creator alone,
constituted the simple doctrinal part of the religion of the Unitarian
of Arabia.” (Apology for Muhammad.)
(J) RELIGION OF ACTION
Islam stands in sharp contrast with those religions which interpret
the Salvation of man in terms of the acceptance of certain intricate
and inexplicable formulae. Simplicity is its watch word and
rationality its lifeblood, and as such it gives to both “Faith” and
“Action” their due place. Wherever the Holy Qur’an mentions the
problem of human salvation, it bases it on “right belief” as well as
“righteous action”, emphasizing the former as the ground and the
latter as the sequence.
(K) RELIGION OF BALANCED PROGRESS
Islamic life is a life of the attainment of “Falah” which means “the
furrowing out of latent faculties”. A Muslim, therefore, has to
continuously strive for progress. a progress controlled by
righteousness and illumined by Divine Guidance, a progress
grounded in spirituality, a progress balanced and comprehending all
aspects of human life: spiritual, mental, moral, aesthetic and
physical.
Paying tribute to the balanced character of Islam and the progress
which it inspires, the famous Orientalist Prof. H. A. R. Gibb says:
“Within the Western world, Islam still maintains the balance
between exaggerated opposites For the fullest development of its
cultural life, particularly of its spiritual life, Europe cannot do
without the forces and capacities which lie within Islamic society.” 6
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(L) RELIGION OF SCIENTIFIC QUEST
While other religions may feel shy of science, Islam has made the
scientific quest a religious obligation. The aims of that quest,
however, are not the unbalanced indulgence in physical pleasures
and the tyrannisation over fellow-beings, but the advancement in the
love of God through progress in the knowledge of His works and
the service of humanity through the acquisition of control over the
“forces of nature”.
Speaking of the role of Islam as the inaugurator of the modern
scientific era, Briffault, the reputed scholar of the history of
civilisation, says: although there is not a single aspect of European
growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not
traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of
that power which constitutes the permanent distinctive force of the
modern world and the supreme source of its victory— natural
science and the scientific spirit….The debt of our science to that of
the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries of revolutionary
theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its
existence. The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The
Astronomy and Mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign
importation never thoroughly acclimatised in Greek culture. The
Greeks systematised, generalised and theorised; but the patient ways
of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the
minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and
experimental inquiry were altogether alien to Greek temperament…
What we call science arose in Europe as the result of a new spirit of
inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of
experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of
Mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those
methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs.
Neither Roger Bacon nor his later namesake has any title to be
credited with having introduced the experimental method. Roger
Bacon was no more than one of the apostles of Muslim science and
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method to Christian Europe; and he was never wearied of declaring
that knowledge of Arabic and Arab Science was for his
contemporaries the only way to true knowledge. Discussions as to
who was the originator of the experimental method . . are part of the
colossal misrepresentation of the origins of European civilisation.
The experimental method of the Arabs was by Bacon’s time wide-
spread and eagerly cultivated throughout Europe. Science is the
most momentous contribution of Arab civilisation to the modern
world It was not science only which brought Europe back to life.
Other and manifold influences from the civilisation of Islam
communicated its first glow to European life.” 7
H. G Wells, another great Western authority, had to admit that:
“Through the Arabs it was, and not by the Latin route, that the
modern world received that gift of light and power (i.e., the
Scientific Method).”
Because of its deep-rooted hostility to Islam, implanted during the
Middle Ages, the West has been very slow in acknowledging the
merits of Islam. Admissions and confessions have, however, been
gradually coming forth grudgingly or ungrudgingly. Thus, as we
have seen above, it has been admitted that the Muslims gave to the
West the Scientific Method as well as the scientific inspiration. But
the Muslims themselves received them from the Holy Qur’aan. This
fact has also been admitted at last. For instance, Stanislas Guyard
observes: “in the seventh century of our era, the Old World was in
agony. The Arabian conquest infused into it a new blood
Muhammad gave them (the Arabs) the Qur’an, which was the
starting point of new culture.” 8 Challenging the adversaries of Islam
and referring to the Holy Qur’an, Dr. A. Bertherand says: “Let them
read and meditate on this great Book: they will find in it, at every
passage, a constant attack on idolatry and materialism; they will
read that the Prophet incessantly called the attention and the
meditation of his people to the splendid marvels, to the mysterious
phenomena of creation…. those who have followed its counsels
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have been, as we have described in the course of this study, the
creators of a civilisation which is astounding to this day.” 9
Emmanuel Deutsch observes: “By the aid of the Qur’an the Arabs
came to Europe to hold up the light to humanity, they alone, while
darkness lay around ….. to teach philosophy, medicine, astronomy
and the golden art of song to the West as to the East, to stand at the
cradle of modern science, and to cause us late epigoni for ever to
weep over the day when Granada fell.”
(M) RELIGION OF THE SANCTITY OF
LABOUR
In Islam, all honest labour is sacred and forms the lifeblood of
human progress.
س ي ن لأ ان و إنس
ى لل ع ا ما س
﴾٩٣: ﴿النجم إل
“For man is naught but what he strives for,” says the Holy Qur’an,
and “the labourer is the beloved of God,” says the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (God bless him!).Thus “idleness” is a sin and
“industry” is a virtue in Islam.
(N) RELIGION OF THE HIGHEST IDEALISM
IN ETHICS
Islam lays the foundation of ethics on “submission to the Divine
Will” and gives to humanity the ethical ideal of imitating the Divine
Attributes, even as we have been exhorted by the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (God bless him) who says: “Imbue yourselves with
Divine Attributes.”
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“The highest form of religious ethic”, observes Sir Richard Gregory,
“is that in which the aim of conduct is complete and implicit
obedience to what is conceived to be the Will of God…..(this
obedience may become a joyous and spontaneous acceptance of a
mode of life, such as it is conceived would be consonant with the
nature of God, subject to such limitations of the flesh as are
ineradicable – the ideal of saintliness. Hence arises the desire for
uprightness as an end-in-itslef, either with a view to reward, if not in
this world, in the next, or pursued selflessly for it own sake. This
concept of religious ethic has led to the highest idealism in human
conduct.” (Religion in Science and Civilisation, p. 63)
(O) RELIGION OF PEACE AND GOODWILL
The word “Salaam” which means “Peace”, has close root-affinity
with the word “Islam”. Thus the concept of PEACE forms an
integral part of the word ISLAM itself. Indeed, this concept
permeates the Islamic religion through and through. For, God,
according to the Holy Qur’an, is As-Salaam, i.e., “the (Source of)
Peace”; a Muslim’s salutation, which embodies the ideal of Muslim
life, is As-Salaam-o-alaikum, i.e. “Peace be unto you’; and the
abode of the righteous, towards which the Holy Qur’an invites
humanity, is Dar-us-Salaam, i.e. “the Abode of Peace.”
One of the ideals of Muslim life therefore, is the attainment of peace
on all fronts – peace with self through harmonious self-realisation,
peace with fellow-creatures through the maintenance of the basic
attitude of Goodwill, and peace with God through submission to the
Divine Will.
(P) RELIGION OF STRUGGLE (JIHAAD)
The Islamic concept of Peace is not, however, utopian. For, Islam is
a practical religion par excellence—a religion of Struggle (Jihaad)
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— and does not, therefore, prescribe any course of action which is
unnatural or impracticable. Thus, for instance, in international
relations, although basically committed to the promotion of Peace
and Goodwill, Islam does allow the participation of Muslims in war
when it becomes morally inevitable—when no other course remains
open for safeguarding justice, nay, peace itself.
The word “Jihaad”, which has been maligned much by the evil-
minded misrepresenters of Islam in connection with the wars of
Islamic history, means “struggle” and, according to Islam, it is of
two kinds;
1) Struggle for subjugating one’s lower self to the higher self. This
is the higher form of “Jihad” and its function is purely spiritual:
(2) Struggle for defeating the forces of evil on the collective plane.
This is the collective Jihad.
The collective Jihaad may, again, be either of a peaceful character,
namely, propagation of Islam and its establishment in the collective
life of the people through preaching and reform, or it may be in the
form of war against an aggressor.
The Islamic permission of war is basically for defensive purposes.
And not only does Islam rule out all immoral impulses to war but it
also lays down a rigid ethics which in its sublimity and humaneness
surpasses all other ethics of war which humanity has ever known.
Says O. Houdas:
“ The Qur’an states: ‘And fight for the cause of God against those
who fight against you; but commit not the injustice of attacking
them first; verily God loveth not the unjust’—S. 11. 190……….
Jihad had to be waged to defend Islam against aggressions….Once
the war was terminated, the Muslims always displayed a great
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tolerance towards the conquered peoples, leaving them their
legislation and religious beliefs.”10
“In their wars of conquest,” says E. Alexander Powell, “the
Muslims exhibited a degree of toleration which put many Christian
nations to shame.” 11
(Q) RELIGION OF “NO COMPULSION IN CONVERSION”
As regards forcible proselytisation, it has been explicitly banned by
Islam with the Qur’aanic declaration:
ا ل
اه ر
ین إك ﴾٦٥٢: ﴿البقرةفي الد
“There is no compulsion in matters of faith”,
and the propaganda that Muslims went out into the world with the
sword in one hand and the Qur’aan in the other to convert the non-
Muslims forcibly is a pure fabrication. Indeed, it is so utterly
unfounded that even an enemy of Islam like Rev. Dr. O’Leary had
to admit:
“History makes it clear that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword
upon conquered races, is one of the most absurd myths that the
historian have ever repeated.”12
(R) RELGION OF BROTHERHOOD
Islam inculcates the love of God’s creation in general and of the
human family, in particular.
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الخلق عيال الله ، فأحب الخلق إلى الله من أحسن إلى عياله
﴾49٣7 :رقم الحدیث: ﴿شعب االیمان
“The best of you is he who is the best to God’s family (i.e.,
humanity),”
says the Holy Prophet Muhammad (God bless him!). Islam regards
humanity as one Fraternity inside which it affirms the existence of
the “Islamic Brotherhood”, wherein all distinctions of cast and tribe,
race and colour, language and territory are superseded and
obliterated, and which has been allotted the function of acting as the
servant of, and the torch-bearer of Divine Guidance for, the larger
Human Brotherhood.
Side by side with the code of conduct meant to be observed within
the circle of Islamic Brotherhood Islam also gives a definite code of
Human Love which relates to the dealings of Muslims with the
larger human society.
“The brotherhood of Muhammadanism” says Dr. Leither, “ is no
mere word. All believers are equal and their own high-priest.” 13 The
Dutch Orientalist Snouck Hurgronje observes:
“The ideal of a League of Human Races has been approached by
Islam more nearly than by any other ideology: for the League of
Nations founded on Muhammad’s religion takes the principle of the
equality of all human races so seriously as to put other communities
to shame.” 14
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(S) RELIGION OF SPIRITUAL DEMOCRACY
In the sphere of worship, Islam stands for the establishment of direct
relation between God and human being without the mediation of
any priest. Every Muslim man and woman is, therefore, his or her
own priest or priestess.
It is wrong to regard the scholars (‘Ulama) or the leaders (Imams) of
congregational prayers in the mosques as priests. Any good Muslim
who knows Islam can lead the prayers, while the ‘Ulama are simple
scholars and experts of Islamic knowledge and merely fulfill a
responsibility which rests on the shoulders of the entire Islamic
Brotherhood. For, Islam wants every Muslim man and woman to be
a scholar of its teachings, unlike, for instance, Hinduism, where
those belonging to the cast of Brahmins alone posses this privilege.
Rev. W. Wilson Cash, the famous Christian missionary and hostile
critic of Islam, had to confess:
“Islam endowed its people with a dignity peculiarly its own... Direct
access to God makes one of the strong appeals of Islam.” 15
(T) RELIGION OF HUMAN DIGNITY
Problem of Slavery
By emphasizing freedom as the birthright of all human beings, by
proclaiming human equality without distinctions of caste, colour or
clime, by denying the sin-innate and all other theories of the evil
origin of mankind, by affirming that the progeny of Adam is the
noblest creation of God, by raising humanity to the status of the
Vicegerency of God on earth, by making imitation of the Divine
Attributes the ethical ideal of mankind, and by pointing out the
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conquest of the universe as the human destiny, Islam has established
human dignity on the loftiest pinnacle conceivable.
Humanity was suffering in various ways because of the wrong
nations held by pre-Islamic cultures and religions about human
dignity, when Islam appeared. Cruelty was being perpetrated in the
name of caste, tribe and race, large masses of humanity had been
reduced to the status of serfs and slavery, which had been an age-old
institution, was being practised by various races and peoples of
Europe and Asia, including the Arabs, with the sanction of such
scriptures as the Bible and without the least moral compunction.
Islam raised world a philosophy and a legislation which has made it
the saviour of the down-trodden and the oppressed for all time.
Among the many misconceptions spread about Islam by its enemies,
one is that which relates to slavery. For a proper appreciation of the
role of lslam in the abolition of slavery, the reader is referred to the
present writer’s “Islam and Slavery.” Here, in this brief brochure,
we might confine ourselves to the brief statement of a fair-minded
non-Muslim scholar of the last century, who said:
“His (i.e. Muhammad’s) law of slavery is ‘If slaves come to you,
you shall’- not imprison and then sell them by public sale, though
no claimant appears, as in the nineteenth century is the law of
Christian England in her provinces, but, - ‘redeem them, and it is
forbidden to you to send them forth’ (Qur’an 11 p.85). And this was
a man standing up in the wild of Arabia in the seventh century.''16
Even the hostile and biased Dutch critic of Islam, Prof. Snouk
Hurgronje, had to say: “According to the Muhammadan principle,
slavery is an institution destined to disappear.”
Chapter 1: What is Islam
21
(U) RELIGION OF RATIONAL SEX
MORALITY
Problem of Polygamy
The Islamic view of the fundamental equality of sexes has been
already stated in the section on “Religion of Unity” and an impartial
historical appreciation of the problem proves beyond all doubt that
it was “Islam which removed the bondage in which women were
held from the very dawn of human history and gave them a social
standing and legal rights such as were not granted to them in
England till many centuries later.” 17 But the widespread propaganda
of the enemies of Islam in connection with polygamy necessitates a
specific statement in the connection.
In the first instance, polygamy was not invented by Islam, nor was it
made in any way obligatory. It had existed in pre-Islamic societies
since times immemorial with sanction of religion and had been
practised even by those who were accepted as holy personages as,
for instance, we find in the Old Testament. There it was governed
by no law whatsoever, and so also it was in the Arabian society at
the advent of Islam. What Islam did was to regulate it and to subject
it to such severe restrictions as to make it prohibitive except in cases
of emergency. Indeed, monogamy has been the ideal and polygamy
only an exception in Muslim Society. This fact is fully borne out by
the present as well as the past history of the Muslims and has been
admitted by all fair-minded critics of Islam. For instance, William
Kelly Wright says:
“Most Mohammedans in all ages have had only one wife.” 18
Islam is a natural religion and it takes a very serious-view of sexual
vices and social ills. Consequently, it was very natural for Islam to
permit limited and restricted polygamy for the maintenance of social
Chapter 1: What is Islam
22
health in all those situations where it is the only natural remedy. For
instance, when war alters the natural sex ratio, giving to women a
preponderance over men, there are only two alternatives, namely,
wide-spread prostitution or polygamy. Islam prefers the latter to the
former in the interests of moral health and social well-being of
womanhood. Similarly, if the first wife is sterile or suffers from any
incurable disease, there are only two possible alternatives, namely,
either the first wife should be divorced and a fresh wife taken or she
may continue in her status undisturbed along with a second wife.
The former course would mean distressing, spinsterhood for the first
wife while the latter course would provide to her an honourable
normal life without temptation to evil. Polygamy can also become a
necessity in a medically incurable case of the hypersexed male who,
in most cases, would look to more than one woman for the
satisfaction of his biological need. In all such cases, the Islamic
permission of polygamy with all its responsibilities and restrictions
would be a definitely healthier course than the hypocritical
adherence to the formal monogamy.
Polyandry (i.e., the marriage of one woman with several husbands)
is not permitted in Islam because psychologically it is unsound,
sociologically it is impracticable, and biologically it is most
dangerous for the physical health of the persons concerned. Certain
primitive tribes who practice polyandry are infested with the plague
of venereal diseases.
Speaking on polygamy, Dr. Annie Besant says:
“There is pretended monogamy in the West, but there is really
polygamy without responsibility; the ‘mistress’ is cast off when the
man is weary of her and sinks gradually to be the ‘woman of the
street’, for the first lover has no responsibility for her future, and she
is a hundred times worse off than the sheltered wife and mother in
the polygamous home. When we see thousands of miserable women
who crowd the streets of Western towns during the night, we must
Chapter 1: What is Islam
23
surely feel that it does not lie in western mouth to reproach Islam for
polygamy. It is better for a woman, happier for a woman, more
respectable for a woman, to live in polygamy, united to one man
only, with the legitimate child in her arms, and surrounded with
respect, than to be seduced, cast out into the streets, perhaps with an
illegitimate child outside the pale of law, unsheltered and uncared
for, to become the victim of any passer-by night after night,
rendered incapable of motherhood, despised of all.”
Another critic of Western social order observes:
“The law of the State, based upon the dogma of the Church, which
makes it a criminal offence for a man to marry more than one wife,
by that same provision makes it illegal for millions of women to
have husbands or to bear children.... It is untrue that monogamy was
advocated by Jesus Christ.. whether the question is considered
socially, ethically or religiously, it can be demonstrated that
polygamy is not contrary to the highest standards of civilization.
The suggestion offers a practical remedy for the western problem of
the destitute and unwanted female: the alternative is continued and
increased prostitution, concubinage and distressing spinsterhood.”19
(V) RELIGION OF SALVATION IN THIS LIFE
AND THE HEREAFTER
It is the distinctive merit of Islam that it does not concern itself
merely with Salvation beyond the grave—salvation in the Hereafter,
but also gives full consideration to—in fact, ensures—human
salvation in this life. For that purpose, it provides comprehensive
Guidance which guarantees moral perfection, social progress,
economic justice and political health—in short, all that is needed for
the practical realisation and attainment of true human happiness in
earthly life and all-round harmonious evolution of humanity.
Chapter 1: What is Islam
24
Laura Veccia Vaglieri says:
“A religion which is not content with being a theory adapted to the
aspirations of our human nature, nor with fixing a code of sublime
precepts which may or may not be applied, but which also provides
a code of life, establishes the fundamental principles of our morality
on a systematic and positive base, precisely formulates the duties of
man towards himself and towards others by means of rules which
are capable of evolution and compatible with the widest intellectual
development, and which gives its laws a Divine sanction, surely
deserves our most profound admiration, as its influence is continual
and salutary on man.” 20
(W) RELIGION WITH AUTHENTIC AND
PERFECT DIVINE SCRIPTURE
There are three fundamental merits of the Holy Qur’aan, the
Scripture of Islam, in which it stands unique among the scriptures of
the world. They are:
(1) authenticity of its text;
(2) perfection of its literary form;
(3) rational character, comprehensiveness and profoundness of its
guidance.
Even a brief discussion of these merits is not possible in the present
introductory sketch. They are, however, so well-established that
even the non-Muslim western scholars, who are always ready to
attack Islam on the slightest pretext had to admit them in forceful
words.
Commenting on the beauty of form of the Holy Qur’aan, Paul
Casanova remarks:
Chapter 1: What is Islam
25
“Whenever Muhammad was asked a miracle as a proof of the
authenticity of his mission, he quoted the composition of the
Qur’aan and its incomparable excellence as a proof of its Divine
origin. And, in fact, even for those who are non-Muslims nothing is
more marvellous than its language with such a prehensile plenitude
and a grasping sonority that its simple audition ravished with
admiration those primitive peoples so fond of eloquence! The
ampleness of its syllables with a grandiose cadence and with a
remarkably large rhythm have been of much moment in the
conversion of the most hostile and the most sceptic.” 21
As regards perfection in matter of guidance and the authenticity of
its text, Laura Veccia Vaglieri observes:
“But besides the perfection of form and method, the Book is also
revealed inimitable by its very substance, for, we read in it, among
other things, previsions or future events and of relations of fact
accomplished since many centuries or which are generally ignored,
and allusions to the most different sciences, religious or profane. On
the whole we find in it a collection of wisdom which can be adopted
by the most intelligent of men, the greatest of philosophers and the
most skilful politicians.... But there is another proof of the Divinity
of the Qur’aan : it is the fact that it has been preserved intact
through the ages since the time of its Revelation till the present day.
And so it will always remain, with God’s Will, as long as the
universe exists. Read and re-read throughout the Muslim world, this
book does not rouse in the Faithful any weariness; it rather, through
repetition, is more and more loved every day. It gives rise to a
profound feeling of awe and respect in the one who reads it or
listens to it.” 22
Chapter 1: What is Islam
26
(X) RELIGION WITH THE SIMPLEST CREED
The Islamic creed is as simple as the Islamic ideology is profound.
Its first fundaments are:
(I) SEVEN ARTICLES OF FAITH
They are: Belief in: (a) Allaah; (2) Angels; (3) Divine Scriptures;
(4) Messengers of Allaah; (5) the Hereafter; (6) the premeasurement
of Good and Evil; (7) Resurrection after death.
(2) THE “FIVE PILLARS”
They are:
(1) Declaration of faith in the Oneness of God and in the Divine
Messengership of Muhammad:
هالالا اله ه محمد رسول الل
الل
Laa ilaha IllaIlaah Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Allah
(2) Obligatory Prayers;
(3) Obligatory Fasts;
(4) Zakaat or Poor-tax;
(5) Pilgrimage to the Ka’aba at Makkah by those who possess the
means.
A Christian critic of Islam makes the following confession:
“Islam had the power of peacefully conquering the souls by the
simplicity of its theology, the clearness of its dogma and principles,
and the definite number of practices which it demands. In contrast
to Christianity which has been undergoing continuous
Chapter 1: What is Islam
27
transformation since its origin, Islam has remained identical with
itself.”23
For an appreciation of the Seven Articles and the Five Pillars, the
reader is referred to “The Principles of Islam” written by His
Eminence Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqui and published in the
present series. Here it may be noted, however, that these Seven
Articles and Five Pillars constitute only the first “fundamentals” and
which is enshrined in the Holy Qur’aan and the Prophetic
Traditions, is so comprehensive as to cover the entire sweep of
necessary guidance on physical, moral, social and spiritual aspects
of human life.
(Y) MUHAMMAD; THE PINNACLE OF
HUMAN PERFECTION
A code alone cannot, by its existence as such, inspire mankind to
action. Hence to love the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allaah bless
him!) above all human beings and things of the world, to believe in
him as the Most Perfect Embodiment of Human Perfection and as
the Absolute Leader and the Last and the Final Prophet (after whom
no new prophet of any category, zilli, buruzi, tashri’ee, ghair-
tashri’ee – shadowy or real – is to come), and to follow him as the
“Best Example”, form the prerequisite of Islamic Belief.
This is the theological status of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in
Islam. As regards his refulgent personality, that would require
volumes even to do bare justice to it.
It is said that “the best testimony is that which comes from the
enemy’s camp”. Here, therefore, we might quote a few statements
of the Western scholars of Islam.
Chapter 1: What is Islam
28
Muhammad’s figure was highly majestic, his complexion and
features were extremely handsome, and “he was gifted”, says the
renowned Orientalist Lane Poole, “with mighty powers of
imagination, elevation of mind, delicacy and refinement of feeling.
‘He is more modest than a virgin behind her curtain’, it was said of
him. He was most indulgent to his inferiors, and would never allow
his awkward little page to be scolded whatever he did. ‘Ten years,’
said Anas, his servant, ‘was I about the Prophet and he never said as
much as uff to me.’ He was very affectionate towards his family.
One of his boys died on his breast in the smoky house of the nurse,
a black-smith’s wife. He was very fond of children; he would stop
them in the streets and pat their little heads. He never struck anyone
in his life. The worst expression he ever made use of in conversation
was, ‘What has come to him? may his forehead be darkened with
mud! ’ When asked to curse someone, he replied, ‘I have not been
sent to curse but to be a mercy to mankind.’ He visited the sick,
followed any bier he met, accepted the invitation of a slave to
dinner, mended his own clothes, milked the goats, and waited upon
himself, relates summarily another tradition. He never first
withdrew his hand out of another man’s palm, and turned not before
the other had turned.
“He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the
sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him
were suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him
loved him; they who described him would say, ‘I have never seen
his like either before or after.’ He was of great taciturnity, but when
lie spoke it was with emphasis and deliberation and no one could
forget what he said.
“He lived with his wives in a row of humble cottages separated
from one another by palm branches cemented together with mud.
He would kindle the fire, sweep the floor, and milk the goats
himself. The little food he had was always shared with those who
dropped in to partake of it. Indeed, outside the Prophet’s house was
Chapter 1: What is Islam
29
a bench or a gallery on which were always found a number of poor
who lived entirely upon his generosity, and were hence called
‘people of the bench’. His ordinary food was dates and water, or
barley bread; milk and honey were luxuries of which he was fond
but which he rarely allowed himself. The fare of the desert seemed
most congenial to him even when he was the sovereign of Arabia....
“There is something so tender and womanly, and withal so heroic,
about the man that one is in peril of finding the judgment
unconsciously blinded by the feeling of reverence and well-nigh
love that such a nature inspires. He who, standing alone, braved for
years the hatred of his people, is the same who was never the first to
withdraw his hand from another’s clasp; the beloved of children
who never passed a group of little ones without a smile from his
wonderful eyes and a kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in
that sweet-toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble generosity,
the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism
into admiration.
“He was an enthusiast in that noblest sense when enthusiasm
becomes the salt of the earth, the one thing that keeps men from
rotting whilst they live. Enthusiasm is often used despitefully,
because it is joined to an unworthy cause or falls upon barren
ground and bears no fruit. So was it not with Muhammad. He was
an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to set the
world aflame, and his enthusiasm was noble for a noble cause. He
was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of
making one great truth their life-spring. He was the Messenger of
the one God, and never to his life’s end did he forget who he was or
the message which was the marrow of his being. He brought his
tidings with a dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high
office together with a most sweet humility.” 24
“The essential sincerity of Muhammad’s nature,” says Professor
Nathaniel Schmidt, “cannot be questioned: and historical criticism
Chapter 1: What is Islam
31
that blinks no fact, yields nothing to credulity, weighs every
testimony, has no partisan interest, and seeks only the truth, must
acknowledge his claim to belong to that order of Prophets who,
whatever the nature of their psychical experience may have been, in
diverse manners, have admonished, taught, uttered austere and
sublime thoughts, laid down principles of conduct nobler than they
found, and devoted themselves fearlessly to their high calling, being
irrressitibly impelled to their ministry by a power within.” 25
Speaking of the glorious success which attended the Holy Prophet
Muhammad’s mission, Carlyle observes:
“To the Arab nation Islam was a birth from darkness into light;
Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor, shepherd people,
roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world; a
Hero-Prophet was sent down to them with a word they could
believe: see the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has
grown world-great. Within one century afterward Arabia is at
Granada on this hand, at Delhi on that, glancing in valour and
splendour and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages
over a great section of the world. These Arabs, the man
Muhammad, and that one century—is it not as if a spark had fallen,
one spark on what seemed black, unnoticeable sand? But lo! the
sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to
Granada!” 26
O.Houdas, the French scholar, said half a century ago about the
inner vitality of the Holy Prophet’s Message:
“Never has a religion developed with parallel rapidity. In less than
half a century Islam spread from the banks of the Indus to the shores
of the Atlantic Ocean, and, if this movement slowed down, it still
persists after thirteen centuries of existence. After having penetrated
in India, in China and Malaya, Islam continues its invading march in
the African Continent which will before long become entirely
Chapter 1: What is Islam
31
Muslim. Without special missionaries and without resort to the
force of arms, the religion of Muhammad has converted the Black
Continent, and it is not without some astonishment to point out the
existence in England and America of small white communities
which . . . have adopted the Islamic doctrines and made efforts to
propagate them. This invasion of Europe, hardly visible today, will
surely grow.” 27
ABSORPTION IN THE LOVE OF GOD :
THE FINAL GOAL
Cultivation of and absorption in the love of Allaah, and the
permeation of the heart with the sweet ecstasy of that love, until a
person becomes virtually incapable of acting against the Divine
Commands, is the final goal, which bestows upon a Muslim
“Abiding Life”—a life of Peace, Progress and Perfection.
(The End)
Chapter 1: What is Islam
32
Islam has no priesthood and prescribes no mysterious rites for the
initiation of the converts. Those who join the Islamic Brotherhood
may, by way of information , fill up the following form and send it
to the WORLD FEDERATION OF ISLAMIC MISSIONS, Islamic
Centre, B- Block, North Nazimabad, Karachi-33, Pakistan
……………………………………………………………………….
DECLARATION OF THE ADOPTION OF ISLAM
I, the undersigned, do hereby declare that I embrace Islam, of my
own free will and wish. I declare that: There is no deity but the One
God: Allah : and Muhammad is the Last Messenger and Prophet of
God. I declare my faith in all the Messengers and Prophets of God
from Adam to Muhammad and in all the revealed Books of God, the
Holy Qur'an being the last one. I promise that I shall follow the
Holy Qur'an as my guide and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (God
may bless him)as my model.
هالا لا اله ه محمد رسول الل
الل
Laa ilaha IllaIlaah Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Allah
Chapter 1: What is Islam
33
End Notes
1 Whither Islam? P. 379
2 Outline of History, p.325
3 Whither Islam? p. 378)
4 Whither Islam? p. 378
5 Die Welt des Islam, p.280
6 Whither Islam? page 378
7 Making of Humanity, pp.190, 202
8 Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses, Tome IX, p. 501
9 Contribution des Arabs au progres des Sciences Medicales, p. 6
10 La Grande Encyclopaedie, Tome 20, p. 1006
11 The Struggle for Power in Moslem Asia, p. 48
12 Islam at the Cross-Roads, p. 8
13 Muhammadanism, p. 18
14 Muslim World Today
15 The Expansion of Islam p.177
Chapter 1: What is Islam
34
16 Westminster Review, no, 1X, p221
17 Lady Evelyn Cobbold, in “Pilgrimage to Mecca”
18 Philosophy of Religion, New York, 1935
19 J.E. Clare McFarlane: Case for Polygamy
20 Apologie de V Islamisme, p. 88
21 L’Enseignement de l’Arabe au College de France, Lecon
d’ouverture, April 26, 1909
22 Apologie de L’ Islamisme, pp. 57-59
23 Jean Lheureux: Etude sur L’Is/canisme, p. 35
24 Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Muhammad,
Introduction XXV111 – XXX
25 The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XV1, p.2
26 Heroes and Hero Worship: Chapter on “Hero as Prophet”
27La Grande Encyclopaedie, Tome 20, article: (Islamisme)
Note: This booklet was published by World Federation of Islamic
Missions, 5th Edition 1985
Chapter 1: What is Islam
35